The clinical study of red blood cell distribution width in patients with chronic heart failure

Abstract

Objective To investigate the association between red blood cell distribution width (RDW) level and the change of cardiac function in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) and explore its possible mechanism by studying the correlation between RDW and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF),left ventricular end-diastolic dimension (LVEDD),and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP),and uric acid(UA) in patients with chronic heart failure.Methods Two hundred and eighty patients were included in our study.Each patient received the examinations of echocardiography,electrocar diogram (ECG),blood routine,and blood biochemistry.According to the different LVEF,LVEDD and RDW,the patients were divided into groups A,B,C,and D,respectively.The groups were compared with each other.Results According to the different LVEF,from group A to group D,with a progressive decrease in LVEF,RDW level were increased gradually [(13.48 ± 0.85) ％,(14.10 ± 1.46) ％,(14.59 ±1.59)％,(14.75±1.42)％,F =12.698,P ＜0.01].There was significant difference among the four groups (P ＜0.01).RDW level correlated inversely with LVEF(r =-0.538,P ＜0.01).According to the different LVEDD,from group A to group D,with a progressive increase in LVEDD,RDW level increased gradually [(13.53 ±0.91)％,(14.12±1.42)％,(14.60±1.68)％,(14.76±1.39)％,F =12.276,P ＜0.01].There was significant difference among the four groups (P ＜0.01).RDW level correlated positively with LVEDD (r =0.343,P ＜0.01).In chronic heart failure patients,there were significant linear correlation between RDW and hs-CRP,LgUA (r =0.486,0.513,P ＜0.05).Conclusions RDW correlated with the change of cardiac function in patients with chronic heart failure.With a progressive decrease in LVEF and a progressive increase in LVEDD,RDW level increased gradually.RDW had a strong correlation with hs-CRP,LgUA.This indicates that RDW level increase may be related to the inflammation and oxidative reaction in patients with chronic heart failure. Key words: Heart failure; Chronic disease; Erythrocyte indices; Stroke volume; Ventricular function, left ;  C-reactive protein;  Uric acid